TV Review: Big Brother 17 (Week #9 & Rankings)

Power alliances are ruling the Big Brother 17 house. As compared to some past seasons, the game is no longer overrun with non-alliance Floaters. No one is playing the game on their own; they each have an ally to rely on. While some are aggressive in their moves, others who were content to sit back and watch have now opted to play to protect their own safety. It’s a war of ever-changing alliances.

After #BasicBecky walked out the door during last week’s eviction, the main alliances and partnerships have landed into three different groups. Standing at the top with the most power is the Austwins alliance (Austin, Liz and Julia) with Vanessa on the peripheral, Steve and Johnny Mac at a close second, and James and Meg holding up the outsider votes. There are many combinations of sub-alliances, safety alliances and partnerships that are mixed in between these three groups. Everyone is trying to protect their place, but which smaller alliances are real or just for show?

Now that the game is dwindling down to only a core group, it’s only a matter of time before people start turning on each other. And with a jury member set to re-enter the game at any point, planning for the future is more important than ever.

For now, let’s see what went down in the Big Brother house during Week #9:

Week #9

The Head of Household (HOH) competition, a game of running to the finish line while holding buttons, pitted houseguests in an unusual endurance challenge that tested their reflexes and speed. Step off too early or if they were the last one to reach the finish line, they would be eliminated. The weaker players (Meg and Julia) were the first to fall, but it came down to a race between the guys. In the end, Austin secured his latest victory and earned safety for the week. Naturally it meant that Liz and Julia would be sitting pretty as well!

With main alliances and sub-alliances ruling the house, the choices for nominations were pretty slim. Austin needed to choose two people to nominate that would give him the least amount of blood, but this week was tough. The “master manipulator” Vanessa came up in discussion again as a potential nominee. Somebody had to be a pawn and if the opportunity came around, Vanessa could be an easy target to go. However, when she found out that she was potentially going up, the power player wasn’t going to sit and be another pawn.

Dynamic nerdy duo Steve and Johnny Mac found themselves sitting on the nomination block. Austin went with the safe option and targeted the two boys instead of making a bigger move against Vanessa. She could always be a potential backdoor option while James and Meg were easy votes to keep for the future. If Austwins wanted to target Vanessa, they would just have to wait for the Power of Veto (POV).

The Zingbot returns! The lovable and cheeky “robot” returned to the Big Brother 17 house to dish out the truth and call the houseguests out of their flaws. Zingbot made fun of Johnny Mac’s back hair, Meg’s terrible gameplay, James’ unrequited love for Meg, and the fact that Austin has a girlfriend! Though, the jokes weren’t as strong or funny as in past seasons. He missed the mark on a few choice zingers against the players. The Zingbot is losing his touch!

In a face mash-up POV competition, the houseguests had to determine the appropriate combination of faces mixed together in newly designed pictures. Each picture would contain a few different photos and the person who completed the challenge in the shortest amount of time would win the POV. Vanessa dominated the challenge and secured herself the POV, destroying any chances of a potential backdoor against her.

Vanessa held all the power. She could remove Johnny Mac or Steve and force Austin to put someone else on the block. Johnny Mac was her top choice to save and keep around the game, but the Austwins alliance wanted him gone. Without the support or vote from her group, she didn’t want to stand on her own. Vanessa decided not to use the POV.

Paranoia and whispers made their way around the house. Steve and Johnny Mac knew that the votes would be a close one; Austin couldn’t vote so it would be only five votes to determine who would be evicted. Julia and Liz wanted Steve to stay while James and Meg wanted Johnny Mac–the tie breaker would be Vanessa. Both allies told Vanessa everything they knew to convince her to save them, essentially creating doubt about her confidence with the Austwins. She now knew that she couldn’t trust the group fully, but she needed to make a choice that would protect her.

Johnny Mac was evicted by a vote of 5-0 and became the fourth member of the jury.

Notes from the jury house

Jackie and Shelli were upset to see Becky entering the jury house. They liked her and thought the house should have targeted a bigger player instead. With three people now in jury, they knew that the competition for someone from the jury to re-enter the game would be coming up soon.

In another endurance HOH competition, all the houseguests (including the four jury members) would have to hold on to ropes as they spun around in the air for the chance to win HOH. Last person standing would win the power and the last person from the jury still standing would re-enter the game! But those results will be revealed on the next episode of Big Brother 17.

Justin is a fun-loving twenty-something living in downtown Toronto, Canada. He’s an avid TV buff, movie fan and gamer. In addition to writing for The Young Folks, he has contributed to EW's The Community, Virgin.com, ghostwritten for The Huffington Post and The Globe and Mail, and he runs his own blog, City Boy Geekiness. When he's not writing about his latest favorite guilty pleasure, he's working in the Comms and Social Media field. Follow him on Instagram & Twitter: @JustinMC16.